South Africa’s 10 best-selling passenger cars of July 2019

According to Naamsa, July 2019’s new vehicle industry sales came in at 46 077 units, representing a fall of 3,7 percent, year on year. Here’s what happened in the seventh month of the year in the passenger vehicle segment…

As always, it’s interesting to take a look at what’s going on in terms of individual model sales. We’ve already examined the figures and picked out the 10 best-selling bakkies for the month, and now it’s time to do the same with the passenger vehicle market (also, check out the worst-selling vehicles).

Take note that while BMW has started reporting individual model sales figures again, some brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Haval continue to provide only aggregate data.

So, what happened in July 2019? Well, the Volkswagen Polo Vivo held onto the top spot, with the Polo hatch again having to settle for second place (for the record, the local arm of the German firm also sold 436 examples of its Polo sedan).

The Hyundai i20, meanwhile, made the biggest gains of the month, rocketing from eighth place all the way up to third. The Ford EcoSport climbed one to fourth, with the Toyota Fortuner thus being forced down two places to fifth.

Kia’s Picanto returned to the table to grab a strong sixth, while the Renault Kwid dropped three spots to seventh. The Toyota Etios moved up one place to eighth, while the Hyundai Grand i10 returned to the table to take ninth. The Suzuki Swift, meanwhile, made an appearance to snatch the final spot on the list and help the local arm of the Japanese firm to a record month (with 1 484 passenger vehicles registered, and 1 577 units in total).

Other bits and bobs

So, what else interesting happened in July 2019? Well, BMW’s top seller for the month was (predictably) the 3 Series with 456 units, with the X5 (140) and locally built X3 (128) next in line for the Bavarian brand. As many as 34 units of the X7 were registered, compared with just seven of the facelifted 7 Series.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles sold 117 passenger vehicle units for the month, ahead of Subaru (84) but behind the likes of Peugeot (120) and Mitsubishi (151). Haval, meanwhile, registered an impressive 805 units in July, more than double Honda’s figure of 398.

Ford sold 523 units of its Figo, with the Fiesta adding 257 and the Everest 258. The Tucson (356), Creta (252) and Accent (150) all made useful contributions to Hyundai’s cause, while the Rio (300) and Sportage (250) did the same for Kia.

The Range Rover Sport (65) was Jaguar Land Rover’s top performer, while the KUV100 (223) and new XUV300 (111) led the way for Mahindra. As has long been the case, the CX-3 (354) and CX-5 (351) did the heavy lifting for Mazda, while the Datsun Go (548) and Almera (466) proved to be Nissan’s most popular models.

Opel enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence, with all six of its offerings making it into two figures for a final tally of 272 units. The Sandero (581) wasn’t too far from placing in the top ten for Renault, with the Duster (287) and Clio (229) offering valuable support.

Toyota’s Corolla Quest (608) dropped out of the top ten, as did its RAV4 (584). Still, the Avanza (518) and Yaris (425) made strong contributions for the brand, with the Corolla Sedan adding 221 units, the C-HR some 199, the Rush another 170 and the Corolla Hatchback a further 120. The Supra, meanwhile, ended on 26 registrations, compared with 13 for the BMW Z4.

Audi sold 13 examples of its Q8 flagship, while the Tiguan (595) and Golf (308) gave VW a further boost. The XC60 was easily Volvo’s best seller for the month, with 81 units registered.

See the top ten table below (and have a look back at June 2019’s figures here):

South Africa’s 10 best-selling passenger cars of July 2019:

1. Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 2 621
2. Volkswagen Polo – 2 076
3. Hyundai i20 – 863
4. Ford EcoSport – 839
5. Toyota Fortuner – 810
6. Kia Picanto – 800
7. Renault Kwid – 768
8. Toyota Etios – 762
9. Hyundai Grand i10 – 654
10. Suzuki Swift – 635